Hannah Pool: The new black

I have been shaving my legs for 15 years. That's an awful lot of razors. It's also not particularly glamorous. There's something about admitting that you still shave your legs that feels both cheap and pubescent. I tried waxing two years ago, and while I loved the combination of someone else doing the hard work and the fact that the results lasted weeks, I went back to the razors. It was laziness; I just couldn't be bothered to wait until the hair on my legs was a waxable length.

But I'm sick of razors and sick of feeling like a Luddite for still using them. No matter what Gillette does to, to try to make "feminine" razors look cool, they'll always look naff and a little nasty. And they rust, and clog, and make your careful display of otherwise stylish bathroom products look ugly.

I'm not 15 any more: I no longer think Bobby Brown is perfect husband material and I should really have grown out of shaving. I wanted to try sugaring, an Egyptian alternative to waxing that uses sugar, lemon and water, and is completely natural. But it was not to be. I looked everywhere, and the only places that seem to offer sugaring in London are aimed squarely at the gay male market. I have no idea why, but it's pretty safe to bet that if gay men are doing it now, we'll all be doing it in a year or two.

Looking for the next best thing, I went to the Aveda Urban Retreat in Covent Garden to try their aromatherapy wax, which is made with honey resin and, like sugaring, is 100% natural. "I would always advise a client to shave rather than use home wax if they can't make it to a salon," says beauty therapist Gevi Nicolaou, as she deftly applies the wax to my legs, takes it off and moves to a new section before I have chance to notice any pain. "Think about it. Shaving's pretty natural: all you're doing is cutting the hair. You might cut yourself, but that's it. With home waxing, you can burn your skin, get irritations, allergic reactions, anything."

I leave the salon with the smoothest legs in town and a renewed affection for my razor.